Heel fender



N0 8, 1949 .J. REDINGER 2 487A77 HEEL FENDER Filed Dec. 14, 1946 INVENTOR ///5 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE HEEL FENDER John T. Redinger, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application December 14, 1946, Serial No. 716,326

This invention relates generally to heel fenders and more particularly to fenders for attachment and detachment on heels of footwear to prevent them from throwing mud and water onto the per- Son or apparel of the wearer.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of a fender for a heel that will collect and discharge mud and water and prevent it from being thrown onto the person or apparel of the wearer.

Another object is heels on footgear that is economical, simple in construction and is readily applied.

Another object is the provision of a fender made of an elastomer and arranged to be slipped on the heel of footgear, such as a shoe, overshoe or galosh, for the purpose of collecting and directing the discharge of mud and water to prevent it from being thrown on the person or apparel of the wearer.

Other objects and advantageswill appear hereinafter in the following description and claims.

A practical embodiment illustrating the principles of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawing'wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view of an inverted heel fender showing the undersides of the parts thereof.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. 1

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of the heel fender.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the heel fender.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the heel fender.

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the fender applied to the heel.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing a modified form of the, heel fender.

The heel fender comprising this invention may be made of any suitable material. It may be constructed of wood, metal or a flexible material such as rubber or a similar synthetic product. It is preferable to construct the heel fender from a vinylhalide ester, such as a copolymer vinyl chloride or a vinyl acetate, as this synthetic material is not only resilient but it has a very low water absorbent characteristic and it is known as a self-cleaning material in that water passing over its surface will carry dirt or foreign matter with it. Obviously such a material is particularly advantageous for use in constructing an article of this character.

Referring to the drawings, l0 represents a U-shaped band member which in this instance is continuous as it is provided with the crossband portion II that extends in front of the heel.

2 Claims. (CI. 3670) the-provision of a fender for When made of resilient material the band member II] is preferably smaller in circumference than the heel to permit it to be stretched and slide over the heel, and upon being released it grips the side walls to support it in position as illustrated in Fi 6. V

A skirt member I2 is attached to the upper portion of the band member ID as indicated at l3 and extends around the sides and the back of the U-shaped band member from the point M to the point [5 as shown in Fig. 1. The ends of the skirt turn inwardly as indicated at It and I7 and are attached to the band member at the ends of the crossband portion l l thereby forming a chamber [8 between the undersurface of the skirt I2 and the band In together with the heel on which it'is mounted.

The skirt is preferably shaped at the back of the heel so as to provide a continuous outwardly and downwardly circular arcuate surface as shown at 20 in Fig. 2, the outer. edge of which projects vertically downward. The. sides of the skirt [2 have a shorter radiusof curvature as indicated at 22 thereby providing a. materially longer vertical wall 23, terminating at the inturned skirt portions [5 and H which are substantially vertical for their full heights. It is important to form the skirt in this manner in order to provide the best fender characteristics when in use.

The rear portion of the skirt member l2 is preferably higher than the side portions as indicated at 2.4. In forming this. skirt section it is preferable to gradually raise the perimetrical edge of the skirt around the-back of the u-shaped circular portion of the skirt. from'the points where it departs from the straight portions on each side of the fender or at the beginning of the curvature of the U-shape curve on the back of the skirt. Although the perimetrical edge of the skirt portion rises gradually to a high point in the center of the rear of the heel and then descends to the opposite side of the skirt portion, it will be noted that the actual radial distance of the skirt is substantially the same on the back of the fender as it is on the side of the fender. It is preferable to raise the rear edge of the skirt portion in this manner for the purpose of maintaining this portion of the fender out of engagement with the walking surface when in use whereas the perimetrical edges of the skirt along the sides of the heel preferably engage the walking surface as indicated in Fig. 6.

It is also preferable to form a sharp perimetrical edge on the skirt [2 as a pointed edge of this character has less surface tension and is therefore unable to hold water and an accumulation of mud and thus avoids throwing such an accumulation upwardly onto the person of the wearer. In constructing this sharp perimetrical edge on the skirt portion as when molding, it is preferable to increase the thickness of the skirt as it approaches the band.

It will be noted that the lower edge of the band I is materially higher than the perimetrical edge of the skirt except at the rear of the skirt where the latter may be raised sufficiently high to approach the lower edge of the band. This constructionpermits the band to be applied on the heel yet the perimetrical edge of the sides of the skirt engage the walking surface and the chamber IB is thereby materially increased in size. If the band were permitted to extend to the bottom of the heel it would merely increase the dimension of the heel which would be undesirable and would also materially reduce the volume of the chamber Hi. It is preferable to have this chamber sufficiently large to receive mud and water which accumulates to such a degree that its weight will cause it to reciprocate downwardly and not be thrown upward onto the person of the wearer.

In walking, persons rarely raise their heel vertically from the walking surface as the angle across the metatarsus is not at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the foot. Thus the heel swings in a lateral direction rather than vertically from the walking surface when the toes are flexed. As the heel raises the water and mud thrown therefrom by inertia they generally travel in a path laterally and upwardly in all directions and strike the person or apparel of the wearer. Thus when applying the fenders comprising this invention, the skirt 1 2 is extended into the path of the mud and water and will either deflect back toward the heel or downwardly toward the walking surface thereby preventing it from being thrown upwardly and up onto the person of the wearer.

The pointed edges of the skirt I 2, although engaging the walking surface at the side when the shoe is down, will not hold mud and water and can therefore not impart inertia thereto. Thus any collection falls to the walking surface and is not thrown. The mud and water from the edge of the heel is caught by the shielding action of the skirt and is dropped thereby avoiding throwing it upwardly and onto the clothing or person of the wearer.

The band I0 need not extend downward into the chamber 18 as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 but may be extended upwardly from the skirt as indicated at 25 in Fig. '7. However, it is preferable to extend the band lower across the front of the heel as indicated at 26 for the purpose of holding the inturned skirt ends [6 and IT in position. This construction provides a larger chamber 21 between the skirt and the heelfor the purpose of receiving and properly deflecting the mud and water therefrom.

I claim:

1. In a heel fender, the combination of a band member constructed to engage and be supported on the side surfaces of a heel, and a continuous skirt member attached to the band member and extending around the sides and back of the heel, said skirt member extending outwardly and downwardly to a vertical wall portion with its perimetrical edge positioned below the band member, the side portions of the skirt edge engaging the heel walking surface with its rear portion being spaced upwardly above the surface of the heel and out of engagement with the walking surface the side portions of said skirt having a short radius of curvature and a long vertical wall and the rear portion of said skirt having a longer radius of curvature and a shorter vertical wall.

2. A heel fender consisting of a band member constructed to engage and be supported on the perimetrical surface of the heel on footgear, a skirt formed integral with the band and encircling the back of the heel from the front on one side to the front on the other side of the heel, the body of the skirt extending outwardly and downwardly to a peripheral edge portion, the forward ends of the skirt turning inwardly and attached to the band at the front of the heel, the peripheral portion of the sides of the skirt being disposed substantially vertical with their bottom edges in a common plane lying below the bottom edge of the skirt at the back of the heel the sides of said skirt having a short radius of curvature and a long vertical wall and the back of said skirt having a longer radius of curvature and a shorter vertical wall.

JOHN T. REDINGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,768,781 Obermeier July 1, 1930 1,779,354 Blincow Oct. 21, 1930 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 106,295 Great Britain May 14, 1917 122,138 Great Britain Jan. 16, 1919 624,286 France July 12, 1927 

